E.M. Duggan celebrates 125 years as fifth generation family run company

Shown are Len Monfredo and Vin Petroni

Canton, MA The submarine, the zipper and E.M. Duggan may seem obscure when lumped together, but they have one very special thing in common, all three came about 125 years ago. In 1891 Ed Duggan started out as a mom and pop shop, since then, they have become a more than $175 million company operating out of three massive buildings in Canton and offices in Boston. E.M. Duggan has more than 400 employees with union members from Local 537, Local 12, and Local 550.

Their drive and perseverance makes them one of the oldest family run HVAC, plumbing and fire protection companies in the country. As the business grew Edward Duggan II fostered a culture of high standards for both their clients and workers.

In 1979 Vincent Petroni, Ed’s son-in-law, joined the company, representing the fourth generation. With the help of the past and present management teams Petroni took E.M. Duggan from a $2-$3 million company in revenues to more than $175 million in 2015, all the while never forgetting about the employees and company legacy. “You treat people with respect the way you want to be treated,” said Vincent Petroni, E.M. Duggan CEO, president and CFO.

Thirty years later, Vin’s son-in-law, Len Monfredo joined the company, together, Petroni and Monfredo continue the Duggan way of keeping a family friendly atmosphere while continuing to catapult the company to the next level.

Monfredo represents the fifth generation and as executive vice president he fosters even more great relationships with both employees and outside vendors. “In today’s world we have state of the art technology and equipment but, it’s our people that run and operate the technology that make us leaders in the industry. There is no doubt that our people are what make E.M. Duggan so successful and we appreciate and applaud each and every one of them.”

John Suffolk, CEO of Suffolk Construction describes E.M. Duggan as one of the most sophisticated subcontractors in the industry today, “I have an enormous amount of respect for E.M. Duggan and it’s interesting, the average life of a contractor is typically seven years and the Duggan’s being in the business for 125 years really speaks to the quality, integrity, and passion that the Duggan family has for our industry.”

In 1967 E.M. Duggan was the first to add a pre-fabrication shop, a safe place for workers to assemble parts rather than being subjected to the outside elements as a high rise is being built. They now have two prefab shops spanning 100,000 s/f.

E.M. Duggan has left an indelible mark on the hundreds of high rises, hotels, sporting arenas and condos they have helped build and continue to maintain with their world class mechanical service department. In 2014 they created an E.M. Duggan special projects division located in the heart of Boston so they could extend their expertise to smaller buildings projects.

“E.M. Duggan really revolutionized the way that work got done. They’ve been able to adapt to the needs of the industry, and I think that’s been the core of their success,” said Massachusetts congressman Stephen Lynch. “Another part of their big success is the way they deal with their employees. They rightfully have been judged to be one of the best places to work in America. There aren’t many companies with the velocity of change and the ups and downs of the construction cycle, that are 125 years old. The fact that E.M. Duggan, over five generations, has had that legacy is incredible.”

The companies 125 years of forward thinking, combined with family tradition has made them trailblazers in the industry. E.M. Duggan is proud and honored to have reached this major milestone as a family run company.